Macedonian Translation

The most practical problem with a Macedonian document is not grammar but geography: the country's name changed in 2019, and two documents you hold may carry two different country names.

4 min readLast updated 2 September 2026

Writing system

Заверен превод на документ

Zaveren prevod na dokument

A certified translation of a document

Macedonian Cyrillic has 31 letters and differs from both Serbian and Bulgarian Cyrillic: ѓ and ќ exist only in Macedonian. The Bulgarian ъ is absent, and the Serbian ђ and ћ are replaced by ѓ and ќ.

The 2019 change of country name

The country's official name changed in 2019, and that has a direct consequence for document translation: documents issued before that date carry the older name and those issued after carry the new one. One person's birth certificate and diploma can name two different countries.

Country names you will meet on documents
Period	Name on the document	In translation
Before 2019	Република Македонија	Republic of Macedonia
After 2019	Република Северна Македонија	Republic of North Macedonia
Yugoslav period	СР Македонија	Socialist Republic of Macedonia

Country names you will meet on documents

The letters that set Macedonian Cyrillic apart

The three Cyrillic alphabets of the region resemble one another but their letter inventories differ. Looking at which letters appear on a document makes it possible to tell which language it is in.

Distinguishing letters across three Cyrillic alphabets
Letter	Macedonian	Serbian	Bulgarian
ѓ	Present	Absent	Absent
ќ	Present	Absent	Absent
ђ	Absent	Present	Absent
ћ	Absent	Present	Absent
ъ	Absent	Absent	Present
ѕ	Present	Absent	Absent

Distinguishing letters across three Cyrillic alphabets

In practice: ѓ or ќ means Macedonian; ђ or ћ means Serbian; ъ inside a word means Bulgarian. Those three signs are the quickest route to a translator with the right oath record.

Surname endings and gender

Most Macedonian surnames end in -ski, -ov or -ev. For women those endings change to -ska, -ova and -eva, so male and female members of one family spell the surname differently.

Surname forms
Male	Female	Type of ending
Petrovski	Petrovska	-ski / -ska
Ivanov	Ivanova	-ov / -ova
Angelov	Angelova	-ov / -ova
Nikolovski	Nikolovska	-ski / -ska

Surname forms

The Bulgarian page describes a similar ending, but there the name has three parts with a patronymic as a separate element. Macedonian does not require the three-part structure; names usually have two parts. The translation still marks which element is which.

letters in Macedonian Cyrillic: 31letters in Macedonian Cyrillic
letters unique to Macedonian: ѓ ќ: 2letters unique to Macedonian: ѓ ќ
the year the country's name changed: 2019the year the country's name changed

Macedonian documents and how we render them

Frequently seen documents
Document	What it is	Our approach
Извод од матична книга на родените	Extract from the register of births	The country name on the document is preserved as it stands
Уверение за државјанство	Certificate of citizenship	Separate from the birth certificate
Уверение дека не е изречена казна	Criminal record certificate	Its validity period is highlighted
Диплома	Diploma	The supplement is a separate document and should be requested with it
ЕМБГ	Personal identification number	Encodes the date of birth; carried across as it stands

Frequently seen documents

Frequently asked questions

My birth certificate says Macedonia and my diploma says North Macedonia. Is that a problem?

It should not be, though institutions do ask. The name changed in 2019 and the two documents belong to different periods. The translation leaves the names as they appear and records the change in a translator's note, so the institution can see the difference is historical.

Can a translator who knows Serbian handle my Macedonian document?

Not for an official procedure. The two share the Cyrillic script but their letter inventories differ, and a sworn translation requires a Macedonian oath record. Macedonian has ѓ and ќ, which Serbian does not.

Is an apostille enough for a document going to North Macedonia?

Yes. North Macedonia is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so sworn translation, notarisation and an apostille are valid; consular legalisation is not required.

My mother's surname is Petrovska and my father's Petrovski. Are they different?

No, they are the female and male forms of one surname. Macedonian surnames take an ending according to the bearer's sex. We state this explicitly in the translation; otherwise a family document appears to show two surnames.